Man steals drugs from police station, cops red faced

Australian police have been left embarrassed after a man stole a large quantity of seized drugs from a police station.

More than 2,000 ecstasy pills as well as small amounts of cocaine and amphetamine, with a street value of about A27,000 40,000, were stolen from an exhibit room of the Maroochydore police station in the northeastern state of Queensland, police spokesman Ben Tracey said.

A small amount of the stolen drugs has since been recovered but most of the drugs are still missing, police said.

A 36-year-old tradesman, who was given unsupervised access to the room which contained the drugs, will be charged next week on 10 charges including drug theft.